Phoenix Racing is ninth in Sprint Cup owner standings, and for a team that finished 27th in 2012, things appear to be heading in the right direction.

And yet the direction of the No. 51 team still is a bit uncertain.

AJ Allmendinger has Phoenix Racing off to a strong start this season. (AP Photo)

The James Finch-owned team has used three different drivers in the first five races this year, with Regan Smith, AJ Allmendinger and rookie Austin Dillon each taking a turn behind the wheel, and will use a fourth driver at Richmond in rookie Ryan Truex.

While it would like to land a sponsor and have Allmendinger in the car for most of the season, its lineup for the rest of the year still isn’t set.

Part of that is because Allmendinger is running at least two IndyCar races, including the Indianapolis 500, for his former team owner Roger Penske.

“We want AJ in the car as much as he can do it and as much as we can have him,” Phoenix Racing General Manager Steve Barkdoll said. “Regan will kind of fill the slot when AJ can’t, and we’re working with Ryan (and that will) change things up.

“If we had our wish, we’d get a one-time sponsor and put AJ in the rest of the year.”

Allmendinger, who lost his ride with Penske after failing a NASCAR drug test last year, has competed in three events for the team, which used Regan Smith for the Daytona 500 and had Austin Dillon in the car for sponsor Tag Heuer at Las Vegas.

Smith returns to the seat next week at Martinsville Speedway as Allmendinger will be competing in the IndyCar race in Alabama.

Allmendinger returns the following week at Texas Motor Speedway but might miss qualifying because of an Indy 500 rookie commitment. He also will race for the Phoenix team at Kansas.

Truex has will bring funding to the team for his Cup debut at Richmond.

“We’ve always used a lot of different drivers,” Barkdoll said. “I came to work for James nine years ago and they had 10 guys in the Nationwide car that year. It’s something we’re probably more accustomed to than these bigger teams would be.

“They’re happy to be in our car, so it’s easy to work together. They all seem to like the same thing.”

The team had Kurt Busch in the car for most of last year and while he didn’t have much success, the team learned where it was deficient.

Crew chief Nick Harrison said it took the organization a few years to adjust from a full-time Nationwide Series team to the Sprint Cup Series and to build cars capable of finishing longer races.

“Our season last year (was) having a lot of speed at a lot of places and just not getting to the end of races or having bad pit stops or mechanical failures or stuff breaking and falling of the car,” Harrison said.

“We’re just trying our best to be mechanically sound and make sure those things don’t happen.”

He said the team has better personnel and a better mechanical checklist this season.

“If we can weed out the stupid stuff and some of the small-team blues we’ve learned from over the last couple of seasons, we can stay in the top 15, top 20 in points, which would be awesome for us,” Harrison said.

The car the team raced last week at California was the first one that the No. 51 crew did all the fabrication work on. It got the chassis from Hendrick Motorsports but did the rest of the work itself, and Allmendinger finished 16th.

Barkdoll said the new 2013 Sprint Cup car has evened the playing field because the bigger teams have the same notes on the new car. The team has a fleet of 12 cars and ran five different cars in the first five races.

“It’s nice to start the season off and have some things go our way,” Barkdoll said. “Nick and the guys are preparing the cars better and we’re getting some breaks on the racetrack but racing hard every day.”

The team also has provided a second chance for Allmendinger, who missed much of the 2012 season after being suspended for the failed drug test. He lost his ride with Penske before running four races at the end of the year for Phoenix Racing.

“Everybody at Phoenix Racing is doing a great job to make these cars fast,” Allmendinger said. “I'm excited to be a part of it and excited to be back.”

How long can the organization stay among the leaders in owner points?

“Our goal is to fake it until you make it — and I believe we belong up here,” Barkdoll said. “Our drivers are certainly capable. Nick is a capable crew chief. The guys are figuring out their rolls.

“My biggest concern is sponsorship. That’s what we need to help keep us up here.”